Snail mail: the Madeleine edition

A short while ago I sat across the table from Madeleine, painting brown-paper-wrapped parcels to send to blog subscribers. I had out the water-colours and was applying some tint to the pictures I'd outlined in black pen (always with the art-liner). For her part, Madeleine was up to her elbows in craft paint and was smearing her hands with joyous abandon across a big sheet of butchers' paper.

Then I left the room to make a cup of tea. When I returned, Madeleine had gotten her paint-covered little hands onto one of my wrapped parcels, and was covering it with her own brand of mail art. That parcel was intended for Michelle, and you can see the finished product below. I think she is pretty lucky to be receiving a one-of-a-kind work of art by Madeleine in the mail, don't you?

After the clean-up, I had a little try at wrapping some of the parcels with Madeleine's butchers' paper and went for a minimal, line-drawing feel instead. I also had a play with some collages, just to mix things up.

I hope everyone likes their mail! More coming soon...

19 pen pals you wish you had

As you probably know, I like to draw pictures on my mail to make them pretty. But did you know there was a whole movement called "mail art"? I only just discovered this! It's when people take the time to decorate the envelopes, so you get a wonderful treat before you even open the letter (and the postie gets something lovely to look at, too).

I've taken a wander around the Internet and collated 19 lovely letterly folk who - surely - make the posties and pen-pals of the world very happy indeed!

1 // Sender: Kaitlyn Patience from isavirtue. Last Christmas, Kaitlyn came up with the idea of a snail-mail advent: she posted one beautiful letter a day to various friends, in the lead-up to Christmas

2 // Sender: Dean Grey from Exploding Doughnut, who sent this 'leaf mail' to cheer up a friend who was going through tough times

3 // Sender: Katherine from Wishbone Blog. Katherine has two younger sisters who are the "golden threads" in her life, but they live far away. So she sent this lovely mail to them for their birthdays

4 // Sender: Fabrizia from Wreck this Girl. Fab is a pen pal extraordinaire, although she's put new pen pals on hiatus while she focuses on uni. Take a look through her blog for some beautiful mail

5 // Sender: Marian from That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles. I love the way she makes collages on her mail from pop culture clippings

6 // Sender: Giova from One Bunting Away. There are lovely themes to these mail packages. Take a look at the Alice in Wonderland-themed package. I must do that for a friend one day!

7 // Sender: Illustrator Axel Sheffler, to children's book publisher Klaus Flugge. Take a look through this gallery in The Guardian to see some amazing snail mail Flugge received from other illustrators

8 //Sender: Bianca from Good Night Little Spoon. Bianca is so generous she not only made this beautiful envelope for a mail-swap, she created a free printable so we can make our own letters look this pretty too!

9 // Sender: Magdalena from The Craft Revival. I love these envelopes: they are like a colour explosion! Magdalena gives the rest of us five tips to make our mail look this great

10 // Sender: Rin from Papered Thoughts. Rin sends and receives all kinds of beautiful mail. Take a look through some of the incoming and outgoing mail on her blog

11 // Sender: Meghan from And Here We Are. Meghan must truly be the typography queen. You don't need to draw pictures or use colours to create stunningly beautiful letters

12 // Sender: Rin from Papered Thoughts. Again. Because, how adorable are those washi tape flags!

13 // Sender: Paper pastries. This blog is full of hand-crafted and designed mail, and lovely calligraphy, as well as stories of personal mail shared between pen pals

14 // Sender: Le Blog de Liberty. So my French isn't great, but as far as I can tell, this post title says "Spring mail-art." And those colours are tres jolie, oui?

15 // Sender: London illustrator Chetan, who goes by the name Cheism. How amazing is the line-drawn city behind the address on this mail!!

16 //  Sender: Emily from Thimble Cat. Do you know any fans of the Grand Budapest Hotel? If you do, how about sending them a little letter that looks like this?

17 // Sender: Lindsay Ostrom. Lindsay heard a story about a post-mistress who was trying to save her little post office, one postcard at a time. So she sent her this stunning record postcard

18// Sender: Moi! I'm not exactly in the league of these other guys but I do love to send mail, and if you subscribe to this blog, I'd be happy to send you a free copy of my book Airmail to say thank you. I'll try to make the mail look pretty, too. Here's some other mail I've sent. (Fair warning: I put the snail in snail mail, but I will write!) Just go here to send me your details.

19 // And finally, anyone who contributes to the Mail Me Art project. About eight years ago, smarty pants Darren Di Lieto came up with the genius idea of inviting artists and illustrators from all over the world to send him decorated mail. They didn't even have to include anything inside the mail: "the medium is the message," he said. You can buy the books from this project here and, if you're feeling creative, you can contribute to the latest project (and book) here.

Now it's over to you. Who would you add to this list? Do you like to send pretty mail? Share a link to your mail project in the comments if you do so we can all admire it!

UPDATE 5 July 2014: as of today I have run out of copies of Airmail to send you. However I would still love to send you something nice by snail-mail to say thank you for reading this blog, and I will still do my best to make it look pretty. If you have subscribed to this blog (or you want to), simply fill in your postal details on this page. And if you're still keen to read Airmail, there's a list of stockists here.

Snail mail: Dear you

And none will hear the postman's knock Without a quickening of the heart. For who can bear to feel himself forgotten? ~W.H. Auden, "Night-Mail"

Dear you, you are not forgotten. THANK YOU for reading this little blog of mine, and for your comments, and your feedback, and just being here with me. I sent five of you some little painted packages in the post last week, I hope they reach you in one piece and I hope you enjoy them! I'm writing and decorating some more right now, so the postman will be knocking again soon.

I love to write mail, and sending you something by post is the least I can do to say thank you for subscribing and for reading. If you'd like some mail from me, just go to the subscribe page and fill in the form to send me your mailing address. Also, it's not too late to enter to win a copy of the launch issue of the stunning new Alphabet Family Journal and a poster by Bianca Cash. Details for this competition are on this post about family (take a look at the comments others have left - they are incredibly moving!).

And now for a spot of nostalgic poetry: the complete poem "Night Mail" from which the quote came above, written by WH Auden for a 1936 documentary of the same name, and narrated by John Grierson.

Snail mail: never give up

This morning when I opened my mailbox I got the best kind of surprise: mail from gorgeous person and motivator-extraordinaire, Katherine Mackenzie of The Beauty of Life. Katherine sent me two postcards, one on which she'd written a little message for me, and another that was left blank so that I could send it on to somebody else. My postcard featured a quote from Harry Potter author JK Rowling. "One thing is for sure: if you give up too soon, you'll never know what you'll be missing. Keep going and never quit."

This was EXACTLY what I needed to hear today, as I struggled to get on top of everything on my plate, and grappled with self-doubt.

And it reminded me of JK Rowling's incredibly inspiring commencement address on "The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination," made to Harvard students in 2008. Have you heard it? If you haven't, do yourself a favour and watch it right now. The next 20 minutes may be one of the greatest gifts you could ever give yourself.

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

... Or if you're not a video watcher kind of Internet person (as I so often am not, because I don't want to wake babies sleeping nearby), here is a link to the full transcript of the address. Get ye reading!

Favourite things - notable paper

Hurrah for Friday! Friday for me doesn't so much mean the last day of the working week as the continuation of the working week, but with the help and company of my lovely husband. And that makes a BIG difference. What does Friday mean to you? Whenever I get the chance on a weekend, I like to write little letters to my friends, and post mail to you guys, like this. In case you're thinking of writing mail for anyone this weekend, or perhaps just a little note to say "hi" or "happy birthday" or, especially, "thank you," here are five ways to make your letters extra special.

1. Stamp your face

Leave a lasting impression (pardon the incredibly bad pun) with this customised stamp of your face. I also think it would be a lot of fun to have stamps made of other people. Like Nanna and Pop, to grace the invitations to their 60th wedding anniversary, etc.

(seen via Swiss Miss)

2. Birthday cake in the mail

What a fabulous birthday card this would make! Paint up this giant birthday cake (complete with glittering candles) following the tips on You Are My Fave, roll it up, and send it in a tube in the mail. I'd maybe fill the tube with little lollies or confetti or other treats to make it extra special.

3. Vintage photo collages

Take a leaf out of Belgian artist Sammy Slabbinck's book. Sammy creates unsettling and sometimes surreal collages by combining a range of vintage photographs into new portraits and landscapes. I might try it (but less spooky) with old gift cards.

(seen via Honestly WTF)

4. Edible pens

Are you a pen-muncher? I was a terminal biro-chewer in high school, my biros were all mangled and dented with teeth marks. Danish industrial designer Dave Hakkens has invented the answer to my (and possibly my pens') prayers: edible pens made with little bite-sized pieces of candy in different flavours. Talk about a homework incentive!

(seen via B for Bel)

5. Photographic gratitude

This latest gratitude project on Kickstarter is guaranteed to happen: they've surpassed their target. The idea is to encourage the return of the humble "thank-you" note, using stunning photography, beautiful paper-stock, custom-crafted envelopes, and lovely extras like wax seals and desk accessories. The folks behind this project, Gramr, say they've been researching gratitude, and "the recurring thing we’ve found is that habits of active gratitude are a key to happiness and wholeness." Anyone you want to thank today?

And that, folks, brings us to the weekend. Enjoy!

Snail mail: mail's in

Look what arrived in the mail for me, all the way from Roanoke, VA (USA). A gift from my gorgeous, talented, creative, free-spirited friend Brandi Bernoskie, one of the greatest things (or people) to have come from my venture into blogging. Thank you Brandi!

Snail mail: love letters to strangers

"You may struggle at times, but here you are, having picked yourself up again and pressing on. Never lose that. You are so much stronger than you think." "Love can't enter through a wall. It comes in when doors are open."

"Well, friend. I guess - I guess we're not so fleeting after all. I'd say we're pretty damn infinite."

These are all excerpts from love letters written to and from total strangers. They are part of a project called The World Needs More Love Letters, a community of more than 20,000 letter-writers from across 49 different countries.

They mail love letters to strangers in need (you can request a love letter of your own here), and they leave love letters in public places like cafes, libraries, holiday destinations and college campuses for strangers to find.

The whole project started with one young woman, Hannah Brencher, who left love letters for strangers all over New York City to help lessen the loneliness and depression that followed her graduation from university.

How about you. Would you write a love letter to a stranger? If you'd like to, you can get involved here.

{Image credits, all licensed under Creative Commons: 1. BiblioArchives 2. Trondheim Byarkiv 3. petertandlund 4. State Library of Victoria Collections}

Stunning drawings on antique envelopes

A little while back my dear friend, author Ruby Blessing, alerted me to Mark Powell's stunning drawings on antique envelopes, maps and newspapers. Talk about putting my picture post attempts to shame! I wrote to Mark and he gave me permission to upload some of his pictures for you here. Which is your favourite? There's loads more on Mark's website, or you can like his Facebook page, if you want to see more.

Reading lately

"To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart." ~ Phyllis Theroux Last night Mr B came home from work with a pile of "googly eyes" board-books for Madeleine, and this one for me. Did you know that the British Air Force kept more than 20,000 pigeons to carry intelligence during the first World War? Or that Hammurabi the King of Babylon invented one of the earliest postal systems (almost 4000 years ago)? Or how to make scented ink? I do, now. I am going to sparkle at dinner parties.

What are you reading right now?

Sparkling Flora - a gift for you from my penpal

Just after Christmas, a little package arrived for me in our post office box. It was about the size of a letter, but satisfyingly plumper (plumper? more plump?). There were little drawings on the outside, my address was written in a friendly, swirly script, and washi tape held the corners together. The stamp was from Germany. Drawing on my masterful powers of deduction, I surmised that this was a letter from my penpal Astrid. Also, she wrote her name on the back. I was very excited. Astrid is wonderfully generous and creative, and writes me fabulous letters about her life and family in Germany, and her regular travels in Italy and elsewhere. She fills her letters with lovely anecdotes, as well as little gifts of beautiful stationery, pictures, mementos and ephemera, much of it handmade. You can see some of Astrid's amazing mail packages to me here and here.

Astrid is a much better penpal than I am. I take a lot longer between letters than she does and, no matter how much I wrack my brain, I never come up with anything as clever or imaginative or lovely to send in my letters to Astrid as she does to me.

Case in point, the letter I excitedly tore open just after Christmas. Attached inside a card by a piece of pink tape was a beautiful little pendant. It was a silver cloud and, when you looked closely, one side was covered with pretty little raindrops while the other was clear like a fluffy, white cloud sailing by on a sunny day. Then I read the card, and discovered that Astrid had actually made this! Isn't she clever?

A little while ago, Astrid opened a shop on Etsy called Sparkling Flora, where she sells some of her lovely creations. And today I have a very special chance for you to win one of two prizes from my generous penpal: a rain-cloud pendant just like mine, and a set of three handmade mini-journals. What's more, Astrid will send you your prize ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.

To enter:

1. Go to Sparkling Flora and Tweet about the page, like it on Facebook or Favourite it (you only need to do one of these but I'll award one entry in the draw for each action, the buttons to help you do this are on the bottom-left of the page)

2. Leave a comment here to let me know what you've done

For an extra chance, let me know in the comments what you like best in Astrid's shop.

I'll draw two winners using a random selector on Thursday 28 February, 2013. Draw 1 will be for the necklace, Draw 2 will be for the mini-journals. Good luck!!

ps. I made the prizes look all Polariod-esque using polaroin.com

UPDATE: This competition is now closed. Congratulations Lisa and Noor.